Learn Hardcore Hausa: A lokacin azumi uwa tana so yara su ci abinci tare bayan rana ta faɗi. - During the fasting period, mother wants the children to eat together after the sun has set.

Lokaci means time, and lokacin is the time of (time + genitive ‑n).
Azumi means fasting (very often Ramadan, if context is Islamic).

So a lokacin azumi is literally at the time of fasting, which in normal English is during the fast / during fasting.

The a is a preposition meaning at / in / on / during.
Without a, lokacin azumi on its own can still mean the time of fasting, but as a time expression at the beginning of the sentence, a lokacin azumi is the usual, smooth way to say during the fast.

Does azumi always mean Ramadan, or any kind of fasting?

Azumi basically means fasting, in a general sense.

In practice:

In an Islamic context, azumi on its own very often refers to the Ramadan fast.
It can also refer to other fasts, depending on context.

In this sentence, with yara su ci abinci tare bayan rana ta faɗi (children eating together after sunset), the cultural context clearly suggests the Ramadan fast, but grammatically azumi itself is just fasting.

Why is it just uwa and yara, with no word like the mother or the children?

Hausa does not have a separate word for the like English.

Definiteness is usually shown by:

Context, or
A suffix like ‑n / ‑r / ‑n ɗin on the noun, or
Demonstratives like wannan (this), waccan (that), etc.

So:

uwa can mean a mother, the mother, or even mothers in general, depending on context.
yara can mean children / the children / children in general.

The sentence as written can naturally be understood as a general statement:
During fasting time, a mother (or mothers) wants children to eat together after sunset.

If you wanted to be more explicitly definite, you could say something like:

uwar tana son yaran su ci abinci tare... – the mother wants the children to eat together...

What is the structure and meaning of uwa tana so?

Breakdown:

uwa – mother
ta – she (3rd person feminine)
na – progressive/continuous marker
tana – fused ta + na = she is (doing something now / habitually)
so – to want / to like / to love

So uwa tana so literally is mother she‑PROG want, i.e.:

The mother wants / likes / would like (in a present or habitual sense).

Because so is somewhat stative, tana so usually expresses a present, ongoing or habitual desire/liking, which fits here: during the fasting period, the mother wants / likes the children to eat together every evening.

Why is it tana so here and not tana son?

Both so and son are related, but used differently:

Ina son abinci. – I want / like food.
Here son behaves like a possessed noun: the wanting/liking of food.
Ina so in ci abinci. – I want to eat food.
Here so is followed by a clause (with in = that I should).

In your sentence:

uwa tana so yara su ci abinci...

After so, what follows is a whole clause: yara su ci abinci (that the children should eat food).
When so is followed by a clause, you use so, not son.

So:

tana son abinci – she wants/likes the food (thing).
tana so yara su ci abinci – she wants the children to eat food (clause).

Why do we say yara su ci abinci and not just yara ci abinci?

In Hausa, when a verb like so (want) is followed by a clause, that clause needs its own subject pronoun in the subjunctive form.

Here:

yara – the children (lexical subject)
su – 3rd person plural subjunctive pronoun (that they)
ci – eat
abinci – food

So yara su ci abinci literally means:
(the) children, that they should eat food → that the children should eat food.

You cannot normally say *yara ci abinci in this structure; the su is needed to introduce the subordinate clause after tana so.

You could also shorten the noun out and just say:

tana so su ci abinci – she wants them to eat food

Here su alone stands for the children.

What exactly does ci abinci mean? Isn’t that redundant, like “eat food”?

Literally, yes:

ci – eat
abinci – food / meal

So ci abinci is literally eat food.

In Hausa this is completely normal and very common; it’s the most usual way to say to eat (a meal). You could say just ci in some contexts, but ci abinci is the natural everyday phrase for have a meal / eat.

What does tare mean and where does it usually go in the sentence?

Tare means together / along with.

Typical uses:

su ci abinci tare – they should eat together
Na je tare da shi. – I went together with him.

In your sentence:

...yara su ci abinci tare...

Here tare comes after the verb phrase ci abinci and modifies how the action is done: eat (the food) together.

You could also say:

yara su ci abinci tare bayan rana ta faɗi
yara su ci abinci bayan rana ta faɗi tare

Both are understandable, but the given position (right after ci abinci) is very natural.

What is the role of bayan in bayan rana ta faɗi?

Bayan basically means after or behind.

In time expressions:

bayan la’asar – after the late‑afternoon prayer
bayan haka – after that

In your sentence:

bayan rana ta faɗi – after the sun has set

So the structure is:

bayan
- clause (rana ta faɗi) = after the sun sets/has set.

It links the main action (yara su ci abinci tare) to a time: they eat together after the sun goes down.

Why is it rana ta faɗi and not rana ya faɗi?

Hausa nouns have grammatical gender: masculine and feminine.

rana (sun / day) is feminine.
The 3rd‑person singular feminine pronoun is ta (she/it).
The 3rd‑person singular masculine pronoun is ya (he/it).

So:

rana ta faɗi – the sun (she) set → the sun set
ya faɗi would be used with a masculine noun, e.g. yaro ya faɗi – the boy fell.

That is why ta, not ya, is used with rana.

Does rana mean “sun” or “day” here?

Rana in Hausa can mean both:

the sun, and
day / daytime.

In context with faɗi (to fall, to set), rana ta faɗi is understood as the sun has set / the day has ended.

Culturally and linguistically, rana ta faɗi is a natural way to talk about sunset / nightfall, especially in fasting contexts (breaking the fast at sunset).

What is the tense/aspect of ta faɗi? Does it mean “has set” or “sets”?

Ta faɗi is in the perfective aspect, which usually describes a completed event.

In English translation, depending on context, it can correspond to:

the sun set,
the sun has set, or sometimes
when the sun sets (in a habitual sense, when used with bayan, idan, etc.).

In bayan rana ta faɗi, it’s “after the sun has set” in natural English, because we’re talking about what happens once sunset is complete: the children then eat together.

Is the overall word order fixed, or can the parts of the sentence be moved around?

The core word order in Hausa is S–V–O (Subject–Verb–Object), and that basic order is quite stable:

uwa tana so yara su ci abinci
Subject (uwa) – Verb phrase (tana so) – Clause functioning like an object (yara su ci abinci).

Time and manner expressions (like a lokacin azumi, tare, bayan rana ta faɗi) are more flexible, and can move, for example:

A lokacin azumi, uwa tana so yara su ci abinci tare bayan rana ta faɗi.
Uwa tana so yara su ci abinci tare a lokacin azumi bayan rana ta faɗi.

Both are possible. Putting A lokacin azumi at the beginning highlights the time frame (during the fast). The given sentence is a very natural ordering.

Is there anything special about the sound in faɗi?

Yes. The ɗ in faɗi is not the same as plain d. It is an implosive /ɗ/, written with a dot below (ɗ).

Pronunciation tips:

ɗ is produced by pulling the tongue slightly backward and making a kind of “inward” voiced d sound.
It is distinct from d, and Hausa speakers hear the difference clearly.

Also:

faɗi (with ɗ) here means to fall / to set (as in rana ta faɗi – the sun set).
There is another verb fadi (with plain d) meaning to say / to tell.

So spelling faɗi (with ɗ) is important for the correct meaning: the sun set, not the sun said.